Simoni, Robert D
- Title:
- Simoni, Robert D
- Author:
- Simoni, Robert D. and Schofield, Susan
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
-
In the first interview session, Robert D. “Bob” Simoni, holder of the
Donald Kennedy Chair in the School of Humanities & Sciences and professor of biology,
speaks about his education at San Jose State University, his marriage while still an
undergraduate and the early addition of three children to their family, Ph. D. graduate work
at U. C. Davis, and five years as a postdoc at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. On the Stanford
faculty for 42 years, since 1971, Bob discusses the biology department, which he chaired
multiple times (a total of 17 years), his areas of research. He also talks about the role
and importance of the university’s Advisory Board on which he was elected to serve
four different terms of three years each. In the second interview session, Bob
discusses his 31 years of service on the Faculty Senate, the value he sees in the Senate,
and some of the issues that arose during his time, including Western Civ-Western Culture
debates, grade inflation, and the failed attempt to implement a Science Core curriculum. He
describes the university’s budget process, in which he has participated, and speaks
about the indirect cost crisis in the late 1980s-early 1990s. He offers views on student
athletics, Title IX, fund raising, the School of Humanities & Sciences, the current
emphasis on interdisciplinary research, Stanford’s rise “from good to
great,” his hobby as a winemaker, and plans for retirement.
- Topic:
- Robert Simoni, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, biology department, Faculty Senate, university budget, athletics, and interdisciplinary research
- Imprint:
- February 21, 2014 - March 11, 2014
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012